


How To: Be A Super

by DarkColdSummer



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Monsters Weren't Sealed Underground, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Big Brother Sans (Undertale), Crumbling Building, Delirium, Did I really spell tumblr as tumbly??? wow, Do I reveal who Arc and Benign are?, Dragged away, Explosions, Gen, Good W. D. Gaster, Hangover, Healing, Identity Issues, Identity Reveal, Isolation, Karmetic Retribution, Kidnapping, Love Confessions, Love/Hate, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, More Identity Issues, More like Puncture Wounds, Narcolepsy, Oop there be Deltarune there, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Sans (Undertale), POV Second Person, Parent W. D. Gaster, Poisoning, Protective Papyrus (Undertale), Sans (Undertale)-centric, Scientist Sans (Undertale), Secret Identity, Self-Harm, Shaky Hands, Solitary Confinement, Swapfell Sans (Undertale), Symptoms of Mercury Poisoning, Tags Are Hard, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface, Undertale Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Sans (Undertale), Undertale W. D. Gaster (Undertale), Unrequited Crush, Warnings May Change, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019, Younger Brother Papyrus (Undertale), gunpoint, identity crisis, kustard - Freeform, mercury poisoning, stab wounds, technically hosted on tumbly but, tf when ur multiple identities clash, wound treatment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-08 23:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20843945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkColdSummer/pseuds/DarkColdSummer
Summary: your life is... strange, for a lack of better phrasing. you clearly weren't thinking anything through when you made your past decisions. that's probably how you ended up here.aka, comic goes through a lot in one month (or something like that).(phyre decides to do a whumptober challenge.)





	1. How To: Put A Super Out Of Commission

**Author's Note:**

> This is the [link](https://whumptober2019.tumblr.com) to the host of the event. 
> 
> I'm aiming to write things daily, on the day itself, though prompts 1 and 2 have been pre-written since it's still right smack in the middle of exam week for me. 
> 
> This entire story is set in the same universe, as far as I can make it. If you have any questions, ask away!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> your dad is… eccentric. this is, what? the fifteenth time he’s wiped everyone’s memories of him on accident? you thank your lucky stars he’s not flying uncontrollably. of course, murphy’s law is a thing. since when could he summon mercury? 
> 
> aka, comic accidentally gets poisoned because his dad has terrible control over his powers.
> 
> (whumptober day 1 prompt: shaky hands)

your name is sans comic serif, an intentional mix-up of the ‘comic’ and ‘sans’ and even though your first name is sans everyone calls you by your middle name because that’s how you introduce yourself. your brother’s name is papyrus blossom serif but he calls himself blossom because you call yourself comic and you don’t have much else in common so he at least wants something in common with you and now you both call yourselves by your middle name. apparently, your father’s name is wingdings gaster serif and apparently, he’s the reason you started calling yourself by your middle name because he does it too.

your family is a mess with names.

your family is also a mess with other things. like how your father, even after x years (because you honestly don’t know), still can’t manage his powers and accidentally erased himself from everyone’s memories. again. it’s only your from your notes that you know he exists. and the fact that he’s sitting on the couch opposite you with paps playing host.

blossom brings out the big guns. “IF YOU’RE OUR DAD, WHY DON’T WE REMEMBER YOU?”

you wince, and so does your apparent father.

“bro,” you tell him. “he erased himself from our memories. again. because memory manipulation is a thing. remember? we keep journals for a reason. reasons. whatever. basically situations like this.”

and isn’t that true? you both keep journals for the unlikely (or so you thought) possibility that you might lose all memories of your life. and while this isn’t quite it, it’s close. you forgot one person. everyone forgot one person because your dad’s just that powerful but that lacking in control.

you’re lucky that he’s not flying right now. you don’t think you and ‘som could survive it. you also hope that he doesn’t wipe his memories of himself again. it’s not fun.

“Can I…” gaster reaches out, letting purple sparks fly from his phalanges. “Return your memories?”

blossom nods eagerly. he’s always been the family guy. on the other hand, you?

it doesn’t matter. your memories come back to you anyway.

…

your hands, grasping the mug of hot chocolate that blossom apparently makes every single time this happens according to your journals, shake.

from what you’ve gleaned from the journals and the newly-remembered memories, that’s new.

the mug falls out of your hands.

…

blossom’s magic snaps out, and he catches the mug with his gravity. the mug bobs up and down until he moves to take it. he looks at you, and you look back.

your hands are still shaking.

…

your father tucks you into your bed and blossom heals your hands because he’s so fucking cool with his powers.

“IT’S POISON,” he says, focusing his healing magic on you.

“Mercury,” your father says, staring at his hands. there’s a silver sheen to it. “It seems I must apologise. I was not aware I had such a dangerous power.”

you groan.

…

the next time you come to, you can’t feel your hands, but you can obviously see them. you can’t move. you feel the panic setting in, but try your best to keep calm. it’s just sleep paralysis, you remind yourself like you do every time you feel this way. it’s just sleep paralysis. it’s just sleep paralysis.

it takes a while before it seems you can move so you do that, pushing yourself up into a sitting position using your numbed hands.

blossom is next to you, wide awake, to none of your surprise. you’d only be surprised if he was asleep. your dad is next to him but some distance from him, silently dozing.

“what’s the verdict doc?” you ask your brother.

“THERE IS-“ he looks away, lowering his voice. “There Is No Cure.”

“oh,” you say.

“We Just Have To Get You To Avoid Mercury For Now Until The Symptoms Pass,” he continues with what is clearly forced optimism. “Which They Will! Hopefully! Most Likely! It May Cause Long Term Side Effects Though! But We’ll Deal With Them As They Come!”

you nod.

your hands are still shaking.

…

you can’t stay cooped up for too long, and your powers are aching to be used. you remember the last time you avoided using your powers. the aftermath is not something to be repeated.

you take off into the air.

you’re not completely stupid though, so your mask and cloak are on, and your other clothes are of no worry to be seen thanks to the cloak. you thank your lucky stars that eclipse is on your side. you don’t think anyone needs to see karma wearing their pjs.

speaking of eclipse, you spot him and his group on the roof of a museum. you chuckle at that, and drop down next to them. “boo.”

none of them flinches.

“Good to see you too, Karma,” eclipse says blandly, looking up at you. “Are you going to ditch us again like last time?”

you laugh, your eye lights glinting under your mask. you know they can see it.

“you know where my priorities lie,” you say lightly.

eclipse huffs. solar’s eyes glint. “ya gotta wonder whether it’s family or karma though.”

“well that’s for me to know and you to find out,” you reply your ally, grinning.

“Are You Going To Help Or What?” lunar asks and you try not to tense at his voice. you’re glad your mask has a permanent smile.

“nah,” you say, kicking off into the air and stuffing your hands into your pjs’ pockets. “see ya!”

your hands are still shaking.

…

you fly right into altheda in your daze. “oh, hey.”

“HELLO!” he says, and just like every other time, you don’t let him know that you know his civilian identity. “HOW ARE YOU TONIGHT KARMA?”

“good, good,” you reply, grinning under your mask. “you?”

“I’M…” he looks around furtively. “DEFINITELY JUST KEEPING WATCH OVER THE CITY. NOTHING ELSE AT ALL. NOPE.”

“really?” you ask, your voice dripping with disbelief and mirth despite the sudden difficulty you have breathing.

“YUP, NOT LOOKING FOR ANYONE OR ANYTHING.”

you feel a twinge of guilt where your gut would be if you had one. “huh. okay. don’t let me disturb you then.”

altheda grins wearily at you, and both of you fly in separate directions. you teleport back home once you’re out of his sight. no use worrying him more than you already do.

your hands refuse to stop shaking.

…

“Are you sure you’re alright, Comic?” alphys asks after you nearly cause an experimental accident for the fifth time.

“yup,” you say, willing your hands to stop shaking. “everything’s just fine and dandy.”

“Are you sure you don’t need a day off?” she asks again, eyebrows furrowed.

“yup,” you reply, staring daggers at your hands.

alphys looks at you cautiously, then takes the test tube of chemicals out of your hands. “I… think I’ll handle this part of the experiment.”

your hands still refuse to stop shaking.

…

you’re on your way home when your karma-senses tingle. you sigh inwardly, then move to an unnoticeable corner to port yourself back home. you throw your cloak and mask over your turtleneck and shorts and teleport again.

“oh,” you say. “you again.”

you stare up at the heavens and close your eye sockets. your hands are still shaking and you really don’t want to deal with this again.you sigh, again, this time outwardly, and turn back to the trio, capital letters on both.

“okay. any chances that you’re not going to do something that increases your minus-karma counts? because for heroes, your minus-karma counts are very very high.”

the three of them exchange glances. you already know their answer before dreamer shoots a fireball at you.

“okay. guess we’re doing this then.”

you focus on the trio carefully, lifting your left arm 90 degrees to the left from your side. your blaster forms around the arm and you bring it to the front. “don’t say i didn’t warn you.”

you’re used to this.

you slip through space and appear behind dreamer, aiming your blaster at timer. you smash it on their head, knocking them out. which means this time, you won’t have to worry about time jumps.

you swing your arm back to the right, slamming it into dreamer’s head. apparently not hard enough, because they swing around, glaring at you, red eyes gleaming under their mask. oops.

you taste metal, which should be a figment of your imagination because you haven’t been hit yet. you brush it off, teleporting a distance away and aiming your blaster at amplifier.

your hand shakes and the blast misses. your two remaining opponents seem confused. you don’t miss. that’s one of the things that you’re known for.

you wince inwardly, resigning yourself to close combat for a little while longer.

your hands don’t stop shaking.

...

“HONESTLY KARMA,” altheda chides you gently. “STOP ATTACKING THE TRIO. THEY’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!”

“they’ve done a tonna wrong,” you murmur, leaning into his hands. he feeds more healing magic into your head wound gently. “their minus-karma count’s too high for them ta be innocent. ’n they don’t stop.”

“AT LEAST STOP BEFORE YOU GET HURT!”

“i always get hurt,” you say, closing your sockets. “whassa difference?”

only this time, you only got hurt because of your shaky hands, and that’s something you don’t tell the hero.

they don’t stop shaking, even while tucked in your pockets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooop! Day 1 done! ...Mainly because it was written a week ago due to reasons stated in the first notes. Happy reading!


	2. How To: Get Your Two Identities To Clash At Really Bad Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you get caught in an explosion, only as comic and not karma which is bad. also, you let slip a couple things to your brother. and your civilian and super lives decide to clash really really badly.
> 
> aka, comic gets caught in an explosion and nothing really goes right after that.
> 
> (whumptober day 2 prompt: explosion)

red hates your guts. specifically, red hates comic’s guts. inexistent guts. whatever. which is plenty funny since red and solar have the same karma-count, same hp, same atk, same def and plenty similar base descriptions. which basically means red is solar. and red hates comic’s guts but solar gets along plenty fine with karma. heck, you think that solar and karma might be on the road of something else.

you could laugh at it.

“whatcha smiling at, asshole?”

“nothing,” you reply red, still smiling.

razz hates comic’s inexistent guts too, which is plenty funny as well since eclipse likes karma just fine. and you’re both and he’s both and you find it amusing and frustrating.

“Are we going to have a problem?” he asks, stepping in front of his teammate/friend/ally.

you smile, trying your best not to think of blossom’s current favourite musical. “nope. why? you have a bone to pick?” your attempts at avoiding thinking of the musical completely fall through, while you make an unintentional pun and a completely intentional musical reference.

the funniest and stupidest thing is that edge likes comic just fine, even though comic doesn’t like edge and karma and lunar barely tolerate each other thanks to solar and eclipse.

“Stop Harassing The Poor Skeleton,” edge says, redirecting both razz’s and red’s attention away from you.

it’s hilarious, you think to yourself as you hold your ketchup, sitting by the bar just a couple seats away from the blinding and the very very complicated relationship the three of them have with you.

…

you take your ketchup bottle and pocket it into one of your inventory spaces, standing up.

“good riddance,” you hear red say, along with edge immediately chiding him for his rudeness.

you ignore your (alḷ͈̱͙̊̇̅̈́̾͟yf͉̺̒̿̓ͅr̗̙̄̓̚͜i̡̨͎͑̈̾e͔̩̰̾̓̏n̰̼̫̅̃͘d̹̭̘͂̀̈fe̩͉̋̿̏̆͢͜͠ͅl̼͈̤͇͂͂͘͠l̰͑̅͜o̢̥͌̓ws̢̊ù̥͚̳̝̔̔͐ͅp̜̬̿̏e̬͌r̡̟̩̂͊) acquaintance and head out of the bar. you still have work to do after all.

…

“Are you sure you don’t want to take another day off?” alphys asks, watching you over her glasses.

“the shaking’s gonna be at least somewhat long term,” you tell her. “it is mercury poisoning after all.”

“Let me rephrase that,” she says, taking a step closer. “Are you suited to be back at work, handling potentially dangerous experiments?”

“no, but i’m a physicist anyway,” you tell her, brow bone raised. “i work more with calculations. you know that, al. and you’re an engineer. not a chemist. why were we handling chemicals the other day anyway?”

alphys gives you the most deadpan look you’ve ever seen. “You’re the physicist,” she quotes back at you, tone mocking. “You did the calculations. We both know that, Comic.”

you hesitate in shrugging on your lab coat. “touché.”

alphys rolls her eyes and you put on your coat, buttoning the top two buttons. “You’re terrible,” she tells you.

“so,” you say, ignoring her statement. “what’s on the agenda today, doc?”

“Well,” she says, looking at her clipboard. “There’s-“

she doesn’t get the time to finish her sentence as a tremor rockets through the building.

her maw moves rapidly, but your hearing has been overwhelmed by a loud explosive sound. around the both of you, the building trembles. concrete falls. alphys looks panicked, until-

you don’t see her anymore.

…

“HELLO!” a voice calls. “IS ANYONE THERE?”

you groan, attempting to roll over. “five mur minutes ‘som…” your skull hits something hard.

“SORRY, I’M NOT GOING TO WAIT FIVE MORE MINUTES TO GET YOU OUT OF THE RUBBLE! I’LL BE CAREFUL, BUT TELL ME IF YOU’RE INJURED!”

it takes a moment more than it should, but you’re finally awake enough to locate yourself. you’re buried under some rubble, you’re alive, the science lab exploded, alphys is somewhere, and your thoughts probably should’ve been in the opposite order.

“i dun think so?” you offer.

“THAT’S GOOD!”

…

it takes a while, but altheda finally manages to pull you out of the rubble. the breaths of clean air, untouched by dust, bring your great relief. and as per usual, being in your brother’s arms makes you feel safe.

you could fall asleep right there and then.

“yer so cool bro…” you murmur, a hand shakily caressing your brother’s masked face, the same hand threatening to drop limp. “so cool…”

it’s not been long since you’ve woken up, but it has been a very long day. you’re at your physical and emotional limit.

“I AM VERY GREAT,” altheda says, almost like a secret admission, moving you out of the way of the science lab’s wreckage.

“yeah,” you say, leaning into his hand, which you can feel building with his specialty: healing magic. “the greatest brother ever. yer so cool ‘som.”

he freezes. “How Do You Know Who I Am?”

“ya think i wouldn’t recognise my own brother? cold, bro. yer not ‘xactly subtle or anythin’.”

“Nyeh,” he laughs, and takes off into the air slightly, flying the both of you to the authorities.

he hands you over to the paramedics and you reach out blearily. “nuuuu, bro, dun go…”

“I NEED TO HELP OTHERS IN THE WRECKAGE,” he says, back in his hero persona now that you’re amongst members of the public.

“ya comin’ back?” you ask through half-lidded eye sockets, but he’s already gone.

(everything hurts.)

…

at night, you fly out to meet with blinding. it’s less funny since you need to hide how you’re still injured from the explosion, but you can’t give away pieces of your civilian identity because of something as simple as an explosion.

what happens afterwards is a lot less simple.

“go out with me,” solar says, looking very evidently nervous. lunar towers some distance away, as looming and dangerous of a threat as he always is, and eclipse watches the two of you, looking slightly smug.

“on a date?” you ask, shifting your attention back to solar.

“yeah,” he says. “like a date.”

you blink owlishly. once. twice. you laugh.

(your ribs still hurt from the explosion.)

…

“what so funny?” solar asks, looking slightly hurt.

you let out a few more snickers, but otherwise calm yourself. “you don’t want me,” you say, as straight-faced as you can.

“ya don’t know that,” he counters. “one date.”

“but i know that you don’t want me,” you say. you’re not going to gift yourself any false hope. “i know you don’t. your civilian identity agrees.”

“but ya can’t say datcha know me.”

“your stats are the same. do you know how rare it is to see someone have the same karma count as someone else, _red_?”

you take advantage of his and his teammate’s shock to slip through space.

you’re back home, and you sigh.

“…KARMA?” your brother’s voice asks, tentatively. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“fuck,” you say instinctively.

“LANGUAGE,” he says, similarly instinctively.

“english,” you mutter under your breath, blossom hears it anyway.

“DON’T GO THERE, BROther…” he says, part of your script, and you see his sockets widen comically as he trails off. you laugh a little at that.

“to answer your question, this is where i stay,” you say, taking off your mask and pulling back your hood.

he stares at you like maybe if he stares hard enough, he’ll wake out of this bad dream. “Comic?”

“heya bro, sorry if i worried you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2!! Ba-dum-tshhh. (Also pre-written.)
> 
> This chapter is a bit all over the place. I didn't mention here but I mentioned in my tumblr that this is actually a practice for me to use specifically themed prompts (and also hurt) to further a plot.
> 
> Tomorrow's the last!! Day!! Of!! Exams!! (For me.) My sister just finished the nation-wide examinations today (extra paper because Higher Mother Tongue) so that's something. I'm looking at tomorrow's prompt and bouncing ideas around because damn... that looks hard. I know there're alternative prompts but I really don't want to have to use them unless I'm desperate so-
> 
> Hope this one was okay!


	3. How To: Induce An Identity Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you need a drink. or two. or maybe three. (you think you’ve long crossed that line.)
> 
> aka, comic introduces himself to an existential crisis after five too many drinks, red proceeds to do something similar and grillby is not paid enough for this.
> 
> (whumptober day 3 prompt: delirium)

“heya grillbz,” you say, nursing a bottle of ketchup. your grin is wry as you point at a bottle on the wall. “can i have some of that?”

…

it’s about an hour later when he walks in. you feel his eye lights wash over you for just a second before getting to his usual spot, two seats away from you. his teammates aren’t with him, for the better and not. depends on which persona’s talking. depends on who’s out there with them. are you comic or are you karma? you’re both but you’re neither. you’re comic in how he cracks jokes like a comedian, you’re karma in how he has his own semblance of justice. you’re not comic in the smiles that he wear, and you’re not karma in his general sense of finding everything funny. nothing’s funny.

red doesn’t look very happy, for whatever reason.

you wonder if it’s supposed to mean anything to you. as far as comic is concerned, no, that’s your asshole lab colleague. as far as karma is, that’s an ally (who might no longer be an ally with what happened) that might be upset.

you also wonder if red the civilian dislikes only comic the civilian and hence has figured out that karma is comic with a mask. you doubt so. red seems like someone who’s made many many enemies. the simple comment of how his civilian identity doesn’t like karma wouldn’t be much of a giveaway in that case. you’ll have to be more careful though, both as karma and comic.

you watch red drowsily out of the corner of your vision. you don’t think he’s actively noticing you, as he calls grillby over and proceeds to down more shots in ten minutes than you did in the past hour. you can’t help but feel impressed. his hangover tomorrow is definitely going to be even more impressive though.

so obviously, you sit back, and call for about the half the number of shots he did. you’re obviously not drunk enough if you can still think coherent thoughts.

…

apparently, you’ve either got a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol that you didn’t know you had, or grillby’s been watering down your drinks. a lot. red however…

his form is slumped on the bar, skull lazily propped up by one of his arms, his other arm clumsily gesturing at the air. “…and ‘e re’ected me! da’ asshole!”

“…” grillby nods along, politely listening and typing on something. you squint. is that… red’s phone? you decide that you don’t quite want to know.

“‘e was all like, ya dun ash-lly like me,” red continues, clearly talking about karma, somehow without revealing his identity. you have to give him props for that. “an’ ‘e din’t wanna listen ta my explanashens. ruude.”

grillby nods.

“‘e’s ’n asshole,” red concludes with a final flourish, his previously gesturing arm deciding to fall limp onto the table. “why’d i e’er like ‘im?”

“you’re drunk,” you tell red, intelligently. “go home.”

“no yer drunk,” he shoots back. “dis’ da adults’ night. kid.”

“that’s not an insult.”

“yer face ‘ssa insult.”

“go back to pre-school.”

“why? y’ wanna fight?”

you turn back to your drink and down it again, the turn back to red, answer on the tip of your nonexistent tongue.

it’s barely been five seconds but he’s started talking to his glass.

you decide that you have better things to do than watch him talk to an empty shot glass and call for another drink.

…

“‘e din’ ev’n lemme say bye!” red says again for the fifth time in a row, and grillby moves a glass out of the way of the other skeleton’s falling skull.

the bell jingles and you turn to look at the door through hazed eyes.

“Of Course,” edge grumbles as he walks in. “Of Course He’d Be Here.”

“Where else would he be?” razz asks, following behind and grabbing red. “Thank you for taking care of him, Grillby.”

grillby nods, and hands red’s phone to edge. you let your eye lights glow in amusement, before using your magic to give the phone a nice little shove across the room.

said phone doesn’t get much of a chance to fly before razz grabs it out of the air. “Be careful,” he says to edge.

edge frowns and doesn’t say a word, but takes the phone and puts it in red’s pocket, slings the smaller over his shoulder, gives you a nod and walks out. razz follows behind, sneering.

you down another glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit short, and a bit of a filler.
> 
> EXAMS ARE OVER.
> 
> Yay.


	4. How To: Paint A Target On Your Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it’s pretty obvious at this point that your lab has something that others want. well, they shouldn’t have blown up the main lab then!
> 
> aka, alphys doesn’t have a good time and everything falls apart around comic.
> 
> (whumptober day 4 prompt: human shield)

you wake up the next morning with a headache and a creak in your neck (which is why you don’t normally drink, dumbass). you’re also really really thirsty, so you head down to the kitchen to drink something, anything.

“GOOD MORNING BROTHER!” blossom says cheerfully. “ARE YOU AWAKE?”

you flinch at the volume and mumble something you think sounds like a “i hope so” as you make yourself a cup of coffee. and another. and another.

you have a feeling you’re going to need a lot of that to get through the day.

-

you walk to work after stopping at the local coffee shop and getting another cup of coffee, this time in a disposable cup.

or well, you walk to where your work would’ve been, before staring at the wreckage. you stare at it for another moment. of course. there was an attack. you’re supposed to be in the backup labs. …that are on the opposite side of the town.

you sigh, and walk into an ally, slipping through space-time to another ally nearer to your temporary labs.

a wave of dizziness hits you as you exit the ally which is strange because your shortcuts don’t do that normally. but you don’t have time for that.

your workplace is under attack.

-

the explosion at the previous one must not have been an accident, now that you think about it, while rushing towards the labs. you’re cheating a bit, putting a little flight in your steps to make yourself go faster. it works, because you’re pretty sure you wouldn’t have been able to reach with that much speed.

there are heroes at the scene but they don’t seem to be doing anything. you almost wince when you catch side of altheda standing amongst them but catch yourself in time.

you spend a few seconds taking in the scene.

altheda is floating above two other heroes; arc and benign. you instantly analyse their karma counts. arc’s is way more positive than negative and benign’s are about equal. they’re heroes that you would be able to put your faith in, so you turn to the enemy.

they’re in the labs. you can roughly recognise some familiar soul signatures inside the building, most of them with unfamiliar (and dangerous) signatures near them. there’s one outside though, and they hold a familiar yellow scaled lizard against them, something glinting (probably a knife of a sort) at her throat. she’s shaking. you don’t need to know their karma count. what they’re doing is enough.

you’re not happy. you’re really really angry. only the most cowardly use others as shields - no wonder the heroes can’t do anything. but you…

your karmetic magic would probably be able to get them without harming alphys, but your only weapon is the blaster you normally wear on your arm. you’d need to be unnoticed first, before even being able to consider attacking. you kinda wish either solar or lunar were here. their invisibility would come in useful but they aren’t here, so you’ll have to be stealthy.

or teleport.

the thought strikes you and you almost laugh. you’re an idiot, but you smile to yourself as you skip space-time and appear behind your target. you know the heroes will react in some way, giving you away, so you need to be fast. your blaster forms while in the shortcut and you prepare to fire it even before you’re in the real world again.

your slippered feet find solid ground.

“heya,” you say, as your target snaps around, too late, as the blaster fires and the world in front of you goes white.

the knife gets melted, which is kinda what you were going for, and alphys’s assailant collapses on the ground. their skin is probably charred but their negative karma is still way higher than their positive one. that one blast isn’t possibly enough for redemption but you don’t have time. the labs are still compromised, even if they’re temporary.

“Sans…?” alphys asks. “What was that?”

you turn back to her - and she looks really really shaken. her positive karma hasn’t seemed to reward her often, despite their high levels. she deserves better than you just walking away without an explanation. arc and benign are close behind, the former quickly tying up the attacker and the latter offering rope. altheda, your brother, is healing alphys. there’s no way you can explain to only alphys if you start now.

so you don’t, marching into the labs. “c’mon, there’s still other people in there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also a bit short heh. But it's going to be pretty continuous with the next ones. 
> 
> This has a plot now! I found the plot! Somewhat!!
> 
> I know who Arc and Benign are but do you? Should they play a bigger role in this story than what I planned? Hm...


	5. How To: Prevent A Murder By Planning Murder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you don’t like how these people are treating your co-workers, even if red is an asshole sometimes.
> 
> aka, comic and group get ambushed.
> 
> (whumptober day 5 prompt: gunpoint)

you find yourself almost collapsing into a puddle of sleep as you step into the temporarily labs. no, no, no! you know alphys will understand, and blossom will probably be really happy to finally find out that you have a medical condition which is the reason why you’re almost always asleep or half-asleep but this is not the time! and you really don’t know much about arc or benign and you really don’t want to explain it to them.

(you also know that blossom will have a lot of questions and a hard time keeping his cover.)

so you finish up your near forgotten cup of coffee shop coffee and hope you’re awake enough for this.

-

the first person you find (with alphys as your co-guide and the three heroes behind you) is, surprisingly red.

or, well, first people, because there’s a lot of him.

trust solar to come in with his self multiplication. you don’t think he’s seen any of you yet so you grin, a bit too wide.

you pitch your voice a little higher. “need help there?”

“fuck you too, karma,” he says, finally jumping on and wrestling his opponent to the ground and sitting on top of them. the duplicates dissipate while he looks up, though he doesn’t see karma. “okay, maybe not karma?”

you laugh and he sees you. “oh fuck you, comic.”

you grin but don’t say anything, stepping back and letting altheda whoosh forward and heal your co-worker.

“al’,” you say and both altheda and alphys turn towards you. “altheda,” you correct and alphys turns back to pick red up. “can you make a lab-wide illusion? it would help separate the civilians and attackers. or uh, benign can change the more cruel emotions to fear or something like that.”

your brother moves to not at you but benign pushes him aside. “I’ll do it. Altheda should keep his energy for healing any casualties.”

“I’ll stay with him,” arc says. “It’ll take a lot out of him and someone needs to protect him. You can move ahead.”

red knocks his attacker’s head on the floor harshly. the latter collapses into a limp pile. he shoves his way to the front of the group. “what ‘re ya waiting fer?”

and you move off.

-

surprisingly, red is civil with you. by civil, you mean that you exchange a grand total of 0 words. which is honestly, sadly, an improvement.

you come across a very confused angie and her attackers. their weapons are on the floor and they’re backed into corners, far away from her. you laugh, and help the armless monster up. “get outta here, angie.”

she doesn’t question it, tracing your steps out of the labs. so far so good.

-

“Don’t move,” an unfamiliar voice says. 

the four of you - hero, neutral, villain and civilian - freeze.

a group of masked people surround you, guns pointed. benign must have exhausted himself. you hope he and arc are alright.

red curses, you feel alphys tremble next to you and altheda seems to brace his magic for an attack.

“Hands in the air,” the same voice says and you all do so.

“run,” you say under your breath, before you make the world around you explode white with the undissipated blaster under the bulk of your jacket.

-

red, alphys and altheda scatter in the chaos. you grin, eye lights manic, control arm still in the air. your attackers still surround you, shaken but guns still aimed at shakily at you.

you bring your control arm down and point it at who you think is the ring leader.

“ready?” you say, grinning, eye light glowing blue and yellow. “because karmetic retribution is always ready for the likes of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know, Angie is Goner Kid. 
> 
> Day 5 done and my hands are tired (not from typing - my chapters have been progressively getting shorter - but from pumping bikes).


	6. How To: Ensure That Your Side Effects Hinder Your Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you’re not pleased by this turn of events.
> 
> aka, people get kidnapped.
> 
> (whumptober day 6 prompt: dragged away)

you don’t fire the blast at the ring leader, but in a circle around you. it takes quite a bit out of you to focus the blast off certain individuals.

“al! lend me a hand!” you yell out into the chaos.

almost instantly, your attackers are weighed down by gravity. you grin at that.

“thanks bro - sol?” you ask, and bone attacks sprout out around them, caging them in, even as red looks at you strangely.

the blast from your blaster has stopped but the karma running through your veins is unsatisfied, yearning for retribution for their crimes. your blood is (figuratively) boiling. it’s not just karma that’s unsatisfied - you aren’t either.

on a side note, you’re also feeling pretty drowsy, so you walk up to alph, poke her in the side and ask her if she has coffee. she stares at you like you’ve gone off your bonkers, but pulls out a thermos flask of it out of her bag. you thank her, and drink the entire flask.

she stares at you. you wink at her.

at this point, it’s probably a given to everyone here that you’re obviously karma. you’ve had a good run and all over the past three years, but somehow, over the past two days, everything’s been falling apart around you. so you do what you do best, ignore it.

you march up to the villains of the day and crouch down next to the ringleader. “heya. care to tell us what you’re here for?”

he shakes his head.

“Allow me?” arc says, from behind you, sounding out of breath. you turn to look at him, and see him shouldering benign.

everyone knows that arc and benign are family, and that their family trait is telepathy just like the serif family trait is flying, so you step aside, altheda taking a hold of the other hero to let arc move forward.

-

arc steps back. “They’re looking for the… HSEs?”

alph clutches your bones a little too tightly and red growls, which is the first thing he’s done in a while, which startles you. “wha’ t’ fuck do dey want with ‘em?”

“They’re underlings - they don’t have access to why, only that they need it.”

there’s a glint in red’s eyes that tells you that you’d probably agree with him. “so, does dat mean they’re disposable?”

you grin, and so does he, even as the others around you look appalled.

“NOPE!” your brother says, stepping in. “I’M NOT GOING TO STEP TO THE SIDE AND WATCH YOU TWO MURDER THESE PEOPLE.”

you hear a near silent “Let’s see what else I can learn from them.” from arc and a “Let me help.” from benign.

“c’mon,” you damn near whine. “they deserve as much. their karma counts are negative to the extreme.”

“who knows what dey can do with da extract?” red adds in. “it’s dangerous in the hands of the likes of them. bes’ ta get rid of ‘em first.”

“AS YOUR BROTHER,” altheda says, poking you on the nose bridge. “I REFUSE TO LET YOU DO THIS.”

“you never stopped me before,” you say, pouting and floating up to his height.

“so dat’s family,” you hear red mutter to himself.

“they deserve it!” you argue, flapping your hands.

altheda’s about to say something, when arc screeches and backs away. shock infiltrates your system and the amounts of coffee you drank can’t help you anymore. your body goes slack and so does your mind.

-

when you wake up from that very nicely induced cataplexy attack, you can’t move, and you’re being dragged out of the labs. red’s near you and he doesn’t look please. the heroes are nowhere to be seen, and neither is alphys. good.

the two of you are dragged into a van. and, as it drives away, you really hope that your brother is alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is... weird. i don't know but i sorta needed this to happen at some point for the other prompts to work out in a linear story line.


	7. How To: React To Blank Spaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you quite like the opportunity to sleep. (red doesn’t like this at all. not one bit.)
> 
> aka, two different monsters have two different reactions to the same treatment.
> 
> (whumptober day 7 prompt: isolation)

when you wake up, all alone in a white room, it doesn’t affect you that much. sleep and exhaustion pull at your bones and really? all you want to do is sleep.

so that’s exactly what you do.

-

he’s freaking out, he knows he’s freaking out but he doesn’t know how to deal with it. he knows he’s not exactly exactly alone - that you’re in the room next door - but he doesn’t know-know it. it’s not registering and neither is much else.

the room is white white white and more white and he’s used to the blacks and (ironically) the reds not the whites. everything around him is too quiet but his footsteps are too loud, breathing too harsh, thinking too loud. nothing’s quite right.

too much too little too white too much white.

he isn’t even thinking it, but the next thing he knows is that his sharpened teeth are halfway through his wrist and marrow is dripping lazily onto the ground. he startles, and extracts his teeth instantly. the marrow obviously doesn’t stop dripping, but-

-

you wake up. you’re still in the white room and exhaustion is still pulling at you. best to get as much rest as possible while you have the chance, right?

you fall asleep again.

-

-it’s enticing. it’s red. it’s a rock in the chaos of the ocean, a drop of red in a room full of white. it’s a relief.

he doesn’t bite his wrist again - that might cause him to bleed out through cutting off one too many mana lines and even if it sounds like a great idea, he kinda wants to see his brother one more time.

his phalanges are sharp, almost like claws. the realisation strikes him and before he knows it, there’s marrow and dust on them. it’s pain and it’s satisfying.

white walls are still walls, he thinks, as inspiration strikes him.

-

you wake up.

can’t move your body.

black creeps along the edges of your vision.

you struggle.

nothing happened.

you struggle… nothing happened.

you try to chase away the blackness.

nothing happened.

fear pounds in your soul. you try to scream.

nothing happened.

the fear causes tears to creep into your sockets. you struggle.

the sleep paralysis that took over you finally leaves and you’re in control of your body again.

you sit up, breathing heavy.

you don’t think you’re going to fall asleep so soon after that.

-

the walls have been painted red and grey. it’s a sparse amount of red and grey next to the large amounts of white, but it’s enough. clarity returns to him.

red looks at the mess he’s made of himself and wipes it off on his jacket. focus on the black of the jacket, not the white of the room. stay calm, stay calm, everything is under control, there’s no need to worry too much. breathe.

everything’s going to be alright.

-

nothing’s alright.

you’re not calm, panic racing inside of you. the white of the room offers solace from the black but it’s not enough. you keep your hands in your pockets, clenched tight, the familiar texture of the fabric soothing you.

you kinda want more colours, so you take out your control hand and summon a blaster.

or at least try to.

it doesn’t work, probably thanks to the new metal bracelet around your wrist.

you’re probably doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear everything's getting shorter and shorter. i'm... sorry? somehow this wasn't as simple as i thought it'd be.


	8. How To: Heal Without Having Materials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you don’t like this turn of events.
> 
> aka, comic mistakes red’s puncture wounds as stab wounds but it’s all the same anyway.
> 
> (whumptober day 8 prompt: stab wound)

you don’t know how long it takes before you see a colour other than white that’s not from yourself. (the white is a nice reprieve from the black but after some time, it gets quite boring.) you don’t think you’ve slept for a while. too long, if the the way your eye sockets are drifting towards closing are any indication. then again, you are always tired.

the door to your room (that you didn’t know existed) opens and there’s grey! and then there’s red. red the colour and red your co-worker.

you don’t think you like where this is going.

-

red joins you in your white room and you don’t know what to think about it. him. the situation as a whole.

you’re not familiar with this side of your ally-coworker. and you’re not your brother.

his skull is, quite simply, a mess. his jacket’s on but you can see red and grey on his claws and teeth. you think you know what he’s done and you don’t think you want to know.

“hey,” you say, and he flinches away from you, eye lights dilated and shaking. “red? you with me?”

he stares past you, seeing you but not. you sigh, but place your hand on his knee. his jumps, somewhat, and you can feel his bones rattling.

“red,” you say, trying your best to keep your voice soft. “can you tell me what you see?”

there’s no response. you shift yourself to occupy most of his vision. “red? solar? sol?”

at the last one, he perks up a little, and you take that as a good sign. “can you tell me what i’m wearing?”

“blue,” he says, finally. “blue.”

you sit there and wait for him to focus.

-

it takes a while, but red’s finally back on planet earth with you, though he doesn’t really seem to like it.

“sol,” you say, prodding him in the side. “give me your arm?”

he looks at you. you look back at him evenly.

he swings an arm at you and you catch it. he refuses to meet your eye lights. you don’t point that out, rolling up his jacket sleeve and, underneath that, his red sweater. you don’t have to roll it up very far to see the wounds.

you don’t know if they look deep or if they’re shallow. you think they might be stab wounds but you also might be overreacting.

there’s no such thing as overtreatment, right?

-

you tear off a strip from your shirt (and you liked it too - it is one of your only clean ones after all) and bandage the wounds.

you tie the strip of cloth tight and red winces, but you think it’s a worthwhile sacrifice - to not bleed out to death over a bit of discomfort.

you have no healing magic - and if you did, you couldn’t access it anyway - and your knowledge of medicine goes about as far as this. and antiseptic cream (which you don’t have). and going to the doctor.

“i think that’s as much as i can do,” you tell red.

he gives you a look. “dey weren’t dat bad.”

“i think stab wounds are plenty bad.”

he stares at you and laughs. “dey weren’t stab wounds! dey were…”

“were?”

“…claw marks…?” he offers weakly, not meeting your eye lights.

you sigh, and shift yourself to offer a presence at his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am. Very. Unsatisfied. With this. But it's 9.15 pm and this is all I've got. Ugh.

**Author's Note:**

> As per usual, [this](https://darkcoldsummer.tumblr.com) is the link to my tumblr, feel free to hit me up!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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